A new mutated variant Covid-19 strain was discovered in the United Kingdom last week. The UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock announced on December 21, 2020 that a new strain of the disease has been discovered in the nation, which has reportedly infected roughly 1000 individuals in Southern England.
The announcement came after the Chief Medical Officer for England, Chris Whitty called on the nation on December 19, 2020 to remain vigilant as a recently discovered variant of the coronavirus was spreading rapidly. Scientists and researchers have stated the new strain of coronavirus can be transmitted much faster than the earlier variant.
India suspends flights from UK
The Indian Government has suspended all flights originating from the United Kingdom to India till December 31, 2020. The suspension will be brought into effect from 11.59 pm on December 22nd, announced Union Ministry of Civil Aviation.
The passengers arriving from UK in all transit flights that have taken off or are reaching India before December 22nd will be subjected to mandatory RT-PCR test on arrival at airports, as a measure of abundant precaution, said the Civil Aviation Ministry.
As a measure of abundant precaution, passengers arriving from UK in all transit flights (flights that have taken off or flights which are reaching India before 22nd Dec at 11.59 pm) should be subject to mandatory RT-PCR test on arrival at airports: Ministry of Civil Aviation https://t.co/Uf5yyrQinY
— ANI (@ANI) December 21, 2020
UK PM announces tier-4 COVID-19 rules
•The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new tier-4 COVID-19 restrictions in the UK on December 19, 2020, just a few days before Christmas. The new rules have been imposed in most affected areas of England including London, Southeast and East of England, which are currently in Tier 3, due to the rapid spread of the new variant of the virus.
•These areas will now fall under new tier 4 restrictions, which will broadly be equal to national restrictions or lockdown, which was imposed in England in November. The tier 4 restrictions mandate the residents to stay at home apart from limited exceptions and work from home if they can.
•Further, people living in tier 4 will be allowed to meet only one person from another household in outdoor public space. UK Prime Minister further announced that Christmas cannot be continued as planned.
Italy detects one case of UK's new mutated Covid-19 strain |
| •Italy announced on December 20, 2020 that it has detected a new strain of coronavirus that has mutations in a person who recently returned from the United Kingdom. •The announcement came after the UK imposed a lockdown in certain parts of the nation including London admitting that more than half of all new cases in the country were being caused by a more infectious mutated variant of the coronavirus. •The infected patient is now being observed in Italy together with family and close contacts, as per the procedures prescribed by the Italian health authorities. |
Why is UK’s new mutated coronavirus variant more infectious?
The newly discovered mutated variant of coronavirus is reportedly spreading faster, almost 70 percent more infectious compared to the earlier variant because it is showing almost 17 changes in the genome, which has resulted in a change in the virus transmission as well. As per experts, the new variant of the infection could be the reason behind the sharp rise in cases in the country.
How to restrict the spread of the new coronavirus strain?
As per UK Health Secretary, the new strain of Covid-19 is out of control and the only way to restrict its spread is by restricting social contacts, especially in Tier 4 areas. The Health Secretary said that everybody needs to behave as if they may have the virus and that is the way that we can get it under control and keep people safe.
When was the new variant of coronavirus discovered?
The new variant of coronavirus was discovered in South England around September 20. This was the time when COVID-19 cases started rising rapidly across the nation.
Will the vaccine be effective against the new mutated coronavirus strain?
As per experts, the same COVID-19 vaccine will be effective against the new coronavirus strain as well but restrictions are required to keep it in the bay. Besides Italy, the new strain has not been detected in other parts of Europe yet.
Can the new mutated virus spread to India?
•As per experts, there are chances that the new mutated variant of the coronavirus will come to India, as the contact rate within the world is very large and it spreads extremely fast.
•Stricter restrictions will have to be imposed, especially on international travel to stop the spread of the infection to India. However, it is possible that India already has this new mutated variant of COVID-19.
•Lately, India has witnessed a downward trend in COVID-19 cases in the country. The rate of increase and severity of cases is also very low in the nation.
India calls emergency meeting
The Union Health Ministry has called a high-level meeting to discuss the new coronavirus strain discovered in the United Kingdom. The representatives from the World Health Organisation are likely to attend the meeting.
Background
Following the discovery of the new variant of coronavirus in the UK, a growing number of countries have stopped flights to the United Kingdom.
Most recently, Italy announced the suspension of flights to and from the UK. The Netherlands government is also banning all passenger flights coming from the UK from December 20 till January 1, 2021 to minimise the risk of the new strain from spreading in the country as much as possible.
The United Kingdom has reported 2,010,069 COVID-19 cases, which includes 67,177 deaths.
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